House Escalus
House Escalus is one of the minor houses of Kyth, and holds territory along the southwestern border of Corvus. The region is one of Corvus' four primary defensive outposts along the Courdonian border. The house rules from the walled fortress city of Heleos. House Escalus' pride and joy is the college for incantational war mages, the Iphicles Institute of War Magic. Historically the school has produced most of Corvus' most powerful war mages. Though it controls a large swath of territory and was once quite influential, the house has fallen on hard times in recent years due to a scandal involving one of it's members, which caused the house to lose a great deal of it's prestige. History Like the other Corvid noble houses, House Escalus was founded in the aftermath of an ancient war with Courdon, when the first member of the house received a phoenix egg from the Lord Woo. His phoenix, a female named Derora, was the first orange and blue Escalus phoenix. But while everyone remembers the first Lord Escalus as a powerful war mage, the story of how he came to be one of the Woo's chosen is a complex one. The original Lord Escalus began life as one of a pair of twins- Iphicles and Heracles Escalus. They looked identical in every way, save for the length of their hair and the fact that they had different wands. Both of them were powerful mages, but they each sought to take a different path with their magic. The elder brother, Iphicles, took the path of a gentle healer, living humbly in their home village. The younger brother, Heracles, took the path of warrior, becoming renowned far and wide as an excellent duelist and an experimenter with combat magic. When the war with Courdon was escalating, Heracles was called upon to act as a general for the mage forces defending the lands. Iphicles followed quietly, serving as a healer for the army. Over time Heracles forged a name for himself as the bane of the Courdonian mage armies, stymieing them with his highly destructive experimental spells. Determined to get him out of the action, the Courdonians snuck around the Corvid lines to lay siege to the city where Heracles was based. After a three day siege, they broke into the city and began to ransack it. Before Heracles was captured, however, his brother Iphicles swapped their wands, put on his brother's armor, and cut his hair. He would pretend to be Heracles and let the Courdonians capture and execute him, while Heracles escaped alive. Heracles was distraught, but Iphicles insisted he was more important to the army and had to survive. Disguised as a healer, Heracles escaped the siege with his life, but he was ravaged by guilt for his brother's death. Since taking on his brother's identity had saved his life, Heracles permanently assumed his brother's name, going by Iphicles to honor his twin's memory. Determined to see to it that the sacrifice was no in vain, the newly rechristened Iphicles redoubled his efforts to drive back the Courdonians, very rapidly becoming one of the foremost figureheads in the war effort. Like the other ten phoenix flyers, after the war he was enobled, and he founded a school of war magic to train future generations to defend the Corvid borders. In memory of his twin's sacrifice, he also added courses in healing to the school, so that the students who graduated from it would be well balanced in their skills. Members Core Members * Iphicles Escalus (House Founder, the Iphicles Institute of War Magic is named for him) * Ionas Escalus (House Patriarch ~1200. Silas' Great grandfather.) * Petros Escalus (House Patriarch after Ionas. Silas' grandfather.) * Silas Escalus (House Patriarch circa ?-1280) * Olander Escalus (House Patriarch circa 1280-1317) * Filipe Escalus (House Patriarch circa 1317-1343) * Dimitri Escalus (Filipe's younger brother) * Catia Escalus (Filipe's daughter and heir. House Matriarch circa 1343-1366) * Willow Escalus (Filipe's daughter) * Delilah Escalus (Dimitri's daughter) * Odin Escalus (Dimitri's son) * Cedrick Escalus (Catia's son and heir. House Patriarch circa 1366-?) * Ceony Escalus (Catia's daughter) * Roman Escalus (Catia's son) * Orion Escalus (Cedrick's son and heir) * Johanna Escalus (Cedrick's daughter) Married or Adopted Members * Bianka Escalus (Silas' wife) * Velvet Escalus (Olander's wife) * Annabelle Escalus née Tanner (Filipe's wife) * Grace Escalus née Cressida (Dimitri's wife) * Linden Escalus (formerly) Cressida (Catia's husband, formally adopted into House Escalus) * Cydney Escalus née Vastcher (Cedrick's wife) Former Members * Eleanor Jade (Silas' daughter, married into House Jade) * Lacy Escalus (Silas' daughter, married to unknown) * Lorainne Escalus (Silas' daughter, married to Gideon Andesine) * Delores Escalus (Silas' daughter, married to Werner Erling) * Anders Escalus (Olander's eldest son, disinherited and cut ties) * Heather Escalus (Olander's daughter, married into House Oberon, then arrested and stripped of her nobility) * Rhea Accipiter née Escalus (Dimitri's daughter, marries into House Accipiter) * Juliet Escalus (Dimitri's daughter, marries a Lyellian merchant) * Sabrina Ophid née Escalus (Catia's daughter, marries into House Ophid) * Colleen Escalus (Cedrick's daughter, marries unknown) * Anthea Escalus (Cedrick's daugther, marries unknown) Employees * Vaughn Bower (guardsman) Trivia * House Escalus is named for the Prince character in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. Though the character is never named in the play, his name- Prince Escalus- appears in the cast list. * Filipe abdicates leadership of House Escalus to his daughter Catia ten years before he actually dies- so Catia takes over in 1343, but Filipe is still alive and advising her until 1353. Category:Noble houses